


It's hard to be a god

by Yamayuandadu



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen, Literary References & Allusions, Mythology References, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 23:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20235889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yamayuandadu/pseuds/Yamayuandadu
Summary: Mayumi tries to learn what motivates Keiki.Spoiler warning for WBaWC, obviously.





	It's hard to be a god

It's widely agreed that it's fitting for a god to live on the very top of a given domain. Indeed, uncountable sources prove that many gods choose to reside on mountaintops, in vaguely defined heavens, or on the surface of celestial bodies, observing the trials and tribulations of their followers from a distance and seldom intervening directly.

Whether Keiki Haniyasushin, god of pottery, clay, soil and a few other similarly colored substances wasn't aware of it, or consciously decided to ignore certain expectations, was unknown to the general public and her close acolytes alike. What could be easily observed was that she considered the very heart of the city built by her followers in place of the Garden of Man the ideal dwelling for a god – at least the specific kind of god she aspired to be, that is. There, shielded from the world by layer upon layer of clay, concrete and iron, by apartment blocks, temples and fortifications alike, and last but not least by the indestructible bodies of the Haniwa Army Corps, she toiled day and night in the blue glow of arcane machinery and flames of humongous kilns, never stopping. As if her work was the heartbeat signifying that the metropolis was, against all odds, alive.

“Lady Keiki, is it really necessary for you to do this? You can could just ask any of us to run the workshops in your stead,” asked Mayumi Jotougu, the closest to a right hand woman Keiki had, as denoted by her golden armor and skillfully sculpted lifelike face. Since there was nobody else above her she could report to, she was one of the few inhabitants of the realm who saw the goddess in person regularly. And as there was very little of interest to report, even a being as keen on following a routine as an animated statue would eventually have to start looking for other matters to discuss than just what did she see while acting as the eyes (as well as the ears, the hand punishing the wicked and the hand rewarding the righteous) of the mistress of the Garden of Man.

“That's impossible”, replied Keiki without pausing the inspection of a fresh batch of decorative glazed roof tiles. She designed every single building, street and monument in this city, not to mention every single of its guards (and a handful of pieces commissioned by eccentric collectors from faraway realms on top of that), so there was always something that needed her attention. “Not because of your lack of ability, naturally. You are capable of many things, I'm not denying that. More than a human, more than a spirit, perhaps more even than some gods. But this is my duty and I simply cannot abandon it or pass it on to someone else.”

“Why is that, lady Keiki?”

“Because I was the one the spirits asked to do this, not you. I cannot abandon the task which let me manifest here in the first place,” she replied. “I remember it like it was yesterday. The clay idol which harnessed the faith in me is still here, did I ever show it to you?”

“I don't think so. It must have been around when you sculpted my body, but I was unable to see back then, I'm terribly sorry. And later this never really came up.”

“That's understandable. After all it's the faith of the spirits we protect that later brought you alive, not my will. Please take a look, then,” replied the sculptor, pointing at a corner of the hall serving as a combination of factory, design studio, temple and throne room. As Mayumi quickly noticed, there indeed was a tiny clay figure there, dwarfed by the machines and sculptures surrounding it. If one was to approach it with truly boundless optimism, they would be able to say it bore a degree of resemblance to a very simplistic haniwa. At least from some angles.

The kind of haniwa people barely capable of staying alive would sculpt, lamenting their feeble position, abandoned by any higher power (save for a variety of higher powers which saw them as a moderately valuable commodity - on a good day, at least).

“With all due respect, lady Keiki, I think it looks out of place among your masterpieces,” a much more finely sculpted haniwa replied with the full degree of sincerity expected from someone who had enough excess loyalty and admiration for a single person to convert it into strength exceeding that of many supernatural beings.

“No, you're wrong. It's the greatest of all the works gathered here, and I will never be able to produce something even just half as incredible at this,” protested the goddess. “You see, I'm pretty sure this is how the very first gods looked. Do you know how flattering it is for me to be summoned through what's the very essence of the concept of godhood?”

“I'm sorry, I haven't really considered that”, admitted Mayumi. Truthfully, she generally didn't dedicate much time to considering abstract issues. That was not the duty of a haniwa. Perhaps if it was, they would be much less bored in this peaceful new age.

“It's fine, I never taught you about it, I'm the one who should be sorry,” replied the sculptor with a smile. “I'm pretty sure that the circumstances which brought me here... very likely replicated the ones which lead to the birth of religious faith in the first place. While I don't think any human souls stuck in this realm are quite that old, I do think that its extremely harsh nature means that nothing more than a certain primordial mindset could develop here as a lasting phenomenon. But progress had to eventually happen, even with all the incredible drawbacks our dear beastly friends and their slave-trading enterprises so kindly provided”, she began, loosing her cool for a moment.

“They're no longer an issue thanks to us”, Mayumi reassured her quickly, alarmed by the sudden change of tone.

“They indeed are not,” Keiki agreed. “But the fear of them runs deep, making my mission all the more important. This fear, the pain which lead to it being so prevalent, and the hope that a different, kinder reality is more than a dream, were what made altruism flourish, in the same way as it did thousands of years ago among the living. Altruism obviously requires a lot of faith in other people – but everyone knew other people are ultimately as weak as fallible as they are themselves. So they needed protectors. Guides. Someone who would make the world less scary. They created gods so that they could ask them to take care of them – so that they could be kind to each other, because they would know a higher power watches over them and will let them flourish if only they come together.”

“And for the people of this formerly wretched realm, that power was you, lady Keiki!”, Mayumi smiled broadly.

“That was me, yes. An insignificant god of clay from a small island kingdom, invoked in trivial prayers once in a blue moon, with barely more than a footnote dedicated to her in the chronicles, suddenly tasked with aiding people for whom even the neolithic revolution was a distant dream at best, and who were constantly in a danger so grave it was almost incomprehensible. All the gods summoned through sculptures like these were either long gone or too prideful to be concerned with pledges which won't bring them much splendor among other divinities, leaving me as the sole one willing to answer them.”

“But you're a great god, doesn't this city you made prove it?”

“I could only achieve it because of the trust the spirits put in me – and then, after I gave them idols as a sign of covenant between us, also in you, both the Haniwa Army Corps as a whole and you as its founding member and eventual leader. They had to see me work on your body to truly believe, beyond just hoping some nondescript force will arrive here to help them on day. Their faith gave me enough power to do it all, and it gave a consciousness to the empty shells I made. For their sake. A city grew around my workshop, and an army grew around you. And I realized that as a sign of gratitude I simply must continue to work for them, I can't just rest and enjoy my newfound status. They aided me despite their dire circumstances, even before we pushed back against the tyrants who ruled over them before. I can't hide behind vague statements about the rules of nature and the correct pace of history. I gave them all the people in the world of the living had, and more. Because we gods have an eternal obligations to these who created us, especially to these everyone else abandoned. They trusted us when they were vulnerable, so the least we can do is to try to repay this debt.”

Mayumi listened in silence. She still vaguely remembered the times when it was just the two of them and a lot of helpless, fearful spirits – these times felt incredibly distant now, while she patrolled the tidy streets of a splendid city built where once a glorified slaughterhouse stood, but the explanation brought these memories back. Despite the passage of time, Keiki was still the same as back then. She was still the goddess she decided to swear her allegiance to for eternity, roused by her speeches and impressed by her crafts.

“I understand it all now, lady Keiki. And deep down I should have been able to piece the answer together myself, without bothering you,” she said after a longer pause. “But aren't you simply tired sometimes?”

“I suppose it's true that it's very hard work”, Keiki admitted. There was no point in denying it. Her clothes were always stained with clay. There were small burns here and there on her skin, despite her best efforts to stay careful. And sometimes she did almost envy the gods who, after performing one or two miracles, promptly left for greener pastures. “But it's also very satisfying. And since the constant supply of my new works is what makes sure the faith which let us triumph keeps flowing, I see it as an absolute necessity to keep working here myself”, she explained. “Also, do you know how many beautiful details you now see everywhere in this domain could only be developed because I never take breaks and always strive to improve my crafts? Take these roof tiles, for example...”

“I should go now, lady Keiki,” Mayumi interrupted, halting further paeans to pottery. She seldom spent much time reporting, so the unexpectedly long discussion and a moment of introspection interfered with her schedule. Hopefully the superior privates meant to in turn report to her will be fine with the previously unheard of small delay “I understand why it's so important for you to be able work here yourself, even though it's hard”, she added, rushing to the exit.

“It's hard to be a god,” Keiki said, more to herself than to the departing haniwa. “But that doesn't mean it's pointless to try.”


End file.
